


Bundle Up

by avislightwing



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Amnesty Arc, Canon Bisexual Character, Character Study, Developing Relationship, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Skiing, excessive descriptions of one (1) cute vampire girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 21:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15300414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avislightwing/pseuds/avislightwing
Summary: After their skiing trip, Aubrey reflects on Dani and how she feels about her. (Spoiler alert: the answer is gay.)





	Bundle Up

It wasn’t that Aubrey hadn’t had crushes before.

She’d had plenty of them. Tan in seventh grade. Jenny in ninth. Pietro when she was sixteen, Tucker when she was seventeen, Rashmi when she was eighteen.

Aubrey liked people. Every once in a while she’d take a second to inform someone – whoever was closest, usually Dr. Harris Bonkers – that thank God she was bi, because she _loved_ people. Getting crushes was part of that. Having friends was part of that!

It was just that… well.

There were crushes, and then there was Dani.

How long had they known each other? Not long. Two and a half months, little more. And somehow when Aubrey looked at her –

She knew what a crush felt like. Her face got hot, and she stammered, and her fingers twitched.

When she looked at Dani, it wasn’t like that – not quite. It was the first time (that day she found out she had magic powers), but since then?

Dani had become her best friend.

She looked at her, and warmth blossomed in her heart. She looked at her, and she felt _safe_.

“Hey.” Dani flicked her ear lightly. They were sitting in the lobby of the Lodge. Dani was curled up in a large armchair with Aubrey at her feet. Barclay had lit a fire, and there was a light snowfall outside. “Whatcha thinkin’ about so hard?”

“Nothing.” Aubrey waited until Dani’s eyes were back on her magazine to look up again.

It wasn’t like she was anything over-the-top, Aubrey thought. She wasn’t drop-dead beautiful or wicked smart or anything. But there was something about her.

She had her feet up on the chair, tucked in like a cat. She was resting her head on the back of the chair as she read, long blonde hair draped over her shoulders in half-tangles. (Dani’s hair was always a little tangled.) She was wearing some of her coziest clothes – sweatpants and a worn flannel over a t-shirt and big fuzzy socks. As Aubrey watched, she scratched her nose where it was sunburnt and freckled from their skiing trip earlier that day. Her hands were a little too big and her eyebrows were a little too bushy and her smile was a little too wide.

Every single one of those things made Aubrey feel that same warmth.

Dani had put on about eighteen layers that morning before they left for the slopes. Snowpants and jackets and a hat with a pom-pom and a big, slightly lopsided scarf that she tucked in and said that Barclay had made for her. She’d pulled on mittens and socks and zipped up everything that needed to be zipped up and then she laughed because she could barely put her arms down and admitted that maybe she’d overdone it, but if she was planning on falling, at least she’d be cushioned.

Aubrey had stared as Dani snapped her ski goggles over her eyes and crinkled her nose.

Looking at Dani, Aubrey thought, was like walking into the lobby of Amnesty Lodge. It was an immediate feeling of _home_ , of _safe_ , of _warm_. It was a feeling of _oh, this is what I’ve been looking for_ , a feeling of _I can leave Dr. Harris Bonkers here and he’ll be fine_ , a feeling of _they’ll understand why I can’t go home_.

“Y’sure you don’t have anything on your mind?” Dani asked.

Aubrey laughed awkwardly and stretched. “Just tired, I guess. Skiing took a lot out of me.”

“Same here.” Dani reached down and caught Aubrey’s hand and held it against the chair’s seat in a way that seemed always absentminded. “Jake’s great, I love him to pieces, but that boy loves his powder. I don’t know how he does it all the time.”

“Oh, practice, probably,” Aubrey said, lobbing a fireball into the fire to make it a little brighter, a little warmer. “I did great at all my stunts, though, especially that last one.”

Dani laughed. “Yeah, that last one was real – real impressive. Hey, Aubrey?”

“Yeah?”

“I really liked hangin’ out with you today,” Dani said softly. “I know Jake an’ Barclay were there too, but I see them all the time, we’re buds.”

“We hang out too,” Aubrey said. “Maybe not a lot, but some?”

“I’d like to hang out more,” Dani said.

“Oh.” Aubrey’s heart sped up, and _there_ it was, that old familiar face-warming words-stammering hands-shaking feeling. But also it felt like she’d just chugged an entire mug of Barclay’s tea, that warming-you-from-the-inside-out, someone-cares feeling. That Dani feeling, she thought. “Like… hanging out? Like friends?”

“Well, I was thinkin’ maybe more like a date,” Dani said.

“Yes!” Aubrey said immediately, almost cutting Dani off, then giggled. “Yeah. Yeah, we still haven’t gone to the hot springs. Or maybe we can go to Gino’s?”

“Gino’s sounds good,” Dani said. “You like mushroom and onion pizza?”

“Hell yeah I do,” Aubrey said. “Just you and me? Not anybody else?”

“Not anybody else,” Dani confirmed. She laughed. “Hopefully we won’t get interrupted by Mama toppling in the door or FBI agents bursting in or whatever else keeps happening around here.”

“Yeah.” Aubrey sighed and leaned back against the chair, realizing her hand was still in Dani’s. “I liked hanging out with you today, too.” She paused, then said, in a bit of a rush, “and I thought you were really cute in all your snowclothes.”

Dani laughed so hard she snorted. “I looked ridiculous!”

“You looked cute,” Aubrey said firmly. “You look cute now.”

“You look cute too, Aubrey,” Dani said. “I always kinda wish I could pull off that punk style, but I’m stuck square in country girl territory.”

“You’re a vampire,” Aubrey pointed out. “There is _nothing_ more punk than that.”

“Good point.” Dani’s forehead furrowed slightly. “You’re… okay with that, by the way?”

“Dating a vampire?” Aubrey exclaimed, and then, more quietly a second later, “I mean, going on a date with a vampire? Hell yeah, dude! I think it’s rad as hell!”

“If you really think it’s that rad…” Dani let go of Aubrey’s hand and fiddled with her bracelet, taking it off. Immediately, her skin started glowing slightly, her eyes went from their usual yellow-green to a bright orange the color of a sunset, and her mouth filled with long, sharp teeth.

“So rad,” Aubrey said, sitting up on her knees.

“Still cute?” Dani teased.

“Cuter than ever,” Aubrey said with a grin. “I like your teeth.”

“They’re a little sharp,” Dani said. “I mean, obviously, but, uh.” She paused. “I was gonna say they wouldn’t be too good for kissing, but I really don’t know.”

“What, nobody’s kissed you?” Aubrey said incredulously.

“Not in a dog’s age, at least. And not a human.”

“Well.” Aubrey bit her lip and fidgeted. “We could fix that. If you want.”

“I’d like that, Aubrey,” Dani said, and smiled with every one of her sharp teeth.

When Aubrey kissed her it was awkward and cute and her heart said _home, home, home_ and she hoped Dani’s was saying that as well.

**Author's Note:**

> what's up my name's birdie and I'm super gay for dani
> 
> Catch me on my Tumblr [@birdiethebibliophile](birdiethebibliophile.tumblr.com)!


End file.
